The
Strictest Discipline Was Preserved WITHIN His Camp, But His Troops
Supported Themselves By A System Of Rapine And Plunder Unprecedented
Even In Those Days Of Military License.
Merit was rewarded with
princely munificence, and the highest offices were within the reach
of every common soldier who distinguished himself; - trivial breaches
of discipline were punished with death.
The dark and ambitious
spirit of Wallenstein would not allow him to rest satisfied with the
rewards and dignities heaped upon him by his imperial master. He
temporised and entered into negotiations with the enemy; and during
an interview with a Swedish general (Arnheim), is even said to have
proposed an alliance to "hunt the Emperor to the devil." It is
supposed that he aspired to the sovereignty of Bohemia. Ferdinand
was informed of the ambitious designs of his general, and at length
determined that Wallenstein should die. He despatched one of his
generals, Gallas, to the commander-in-chief, with a mandate
depriving him of his dignity of generalissimo, and nominating Gallas
as his successor. Surprised before his plans were ripe, and
deserted by many on whose support he had relied, Wallenstein retired
hastily upon Egra. During a banquet in the castle, three of his
generals who remained faithful to their leader were murdered in the
dead of night. Roused by the noise, Wallenstein leapt from his bed,
and encountered three soldiers who had been hired to despatch him.
Speechless with astonishment and indignation, he stretched forth his
arms, and receiving in his breast the stroke of a halbert, fell dead
without a groan, in the fifty-first year of his age.
The following anecdote, curiously illustrative of the state of
affairs in Wallenstein's camp, is related by Schiller in his History
of the Thirty Years' War, a work containing a full account of the
life and actions of this extraordinary man. "The extortions of
Wallenstein's soldiers from the peasants had at one period reached
such a pitch, that severe penalties were denounced against all
marauders; and every soldier who should be convicted of theft was
threatened with a halter. Shortly afterwards, it chanced that
Wallenstein himself met a soldier straying in the field, whom he
caused to be seized, as having violated the law, and condemned to
the gallows without a trial, by his usual word of doom: "Let the
rascal be hung!" The soldier protested, and proved his innocence.
"Then let them hang the innocent," cried the inhuman Wallenstein;
"and the guilty will tremble the more." The preparations for
carrying this sentence into effect had already commenced, when the
soldier, who saw himself lost without remedy, formed the desperate
resolution that he would not die unrevenged. Rushing furiously upon
his leader, he was seized and disarmed by the bystanders before he
could carry his intention into effect. "Now let him go," said
Wallenstein; "it will excite terror enough."" - ED.
{9} Poniatowski was the commander of the Polish legion in the
armies of Napoleon, by whom he was highly respected. At the battle
of Leipzig, fought in October 1813, Poniatowski and Marshal
MacDonald were appointed to command the rear of Napoleon's army,
which, after two days hard fighting, was compelled to retreat before
the Allies.
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